Telephone tag entertainment
AssigneeAlcatel USA Sourcing, L.P.
InventorGilman R. Stevens
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
To alleviate the frustration of telephone tag, if the called party is unavailable (32), the calling party is offered the chance to participate in a game (36). The user can accept or reject the offer (38). If the offer is accepted, a game is played (40), if the offer is rejected, the calling party is connected to the called party's voice mail (42). The game could involve purchase of a lottery, participation in a guessing game, or participation in a knowledge-based game. After the game is played, the calling party is connected to the called party's voice mail (42).
Claims20
A method of providing voice mail, comprising the steps of:
- receiving a call from a calling party to a called party;
- determining whether the call should be passed to a voice mail system associated with the called party;
- determining a number of unsuccessful attempts by said calling party to reach said called party;
- offering the calling party to partake in a form of entertainment, the entertainment being varied based on said number of unsuccessful attempts, where the calling party may either accept of reject the offer, if the call is passed to a voice mail system;
- providing the entertainment, if the calling party accepts;
- and
- forwarding the calling party to the called party's voice mail.
Circuitry for enhancing voice mail, comprising:
- circuitry for receiving a call from a calling party to a called party;
- circuitry for determining a number of unsuccessful attempts by said calling party to reach said called party;
- circuitry for offering the calling party to partake in entertainment, the entertainment being varied based on said number of unsuccessful attempts, if the call is to be passed to a voice mail system, where the offer may be accepted or rejected by the calling party;
- circuitry for providing entertainment to a calling party who accepts an offer for entertainment;
- and
- circuitry for forwarding the calling party to the called party's voice mail.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.